The Art of Paper and the Scientific Instruments of Paper Technology and the Paper Around Us

What do you think of when it comes to paper? Whether it's books or photos, or window decorations on holiday glass, it can be said that for us, paper carries knowledge and records memories. It can be ordinary or full of value, but behind paper lies the innovation of technology from generation to generation. And if you are willing to learn about the story behind paper, perhaps you can also learn unexpected content.

At the beginning of 2021, the "Technology and Art of Chinese Handmade Papermaking" themed exhibition opened at the China Science and Technology Museum. Paper, artistic works of paper, and papermaking techniques are presented in various forms before visitors, leaving them breathtaking. As someone from another province, I can only cast envious glances at my friends living in Beijing, but when it comes to the art of paper, I still have a lot to say.

Paper can become a work of art largely due to its strong plasticity, which makes it an indispensable material in our daily lives. In fact, with the continuous progress of paper technology, paper products have even surpassed our beliefs to a certain extent. For example, in today's advocacy of plastic prohibition, paper has become a common substitute.

Generally speaking, when it comes to takeout packaging, the first thing we think of is often plastic bags; When it comes to straws, our subconscious often defaults to plastic straws. However, in fact, as various regions began to advocate for plastic reduction, restriction, and prohibition, plastic bags for takeout and plastic straws equipped in restaurants such as milk tea shops and coffee shops gradually became paid for use. In this situation, paper bags and paper straws replaced plastic bags and straws.

So why does paper look fragile but have so many uses? This involves the type of paper, manufacturing process, and related physical and chemical indicators. In fact, there are a wide variety of types of paper in a broad sense, such as commonly used packaging paper such as chicken skin paper, parchment paper, semi transparent paper, glass paper, etc. Although they all belong to packaging paper and are mainly made of wood pulp, due to differences in technology and specific material ratios, there are significant differences in oil resistance, smoothness, toughness, breathability, and light transmittance, so the actual usage scenarios also vary.

Due to the different production processes and application scenarios of different types of paper, there are also many instruments involved in the production process and testing instruments used before putting them into use. Paper testing instruments such as burst tester, thickness gauge, compression tester, compression tester, whiteness tester, colorimeter, pulp beating tester, friction tester, etc. are common.

Of course, from this perspective alone, many crafts may be closely related to our lives, but many times, the connection between the paper and scientific instruments around us is also very close. Let's put it in terms of the toilet paper we often use.

Generally speaking, during the use of tissues, our hands, mouth, nose, and other parts will have close contact with them. However, if tissues involve quality issues, they may also directly harm our bodies. Therefore, behind the tissue, there is actually a very strict set of standards, such as GB/T20810-2006 "Toilet paper (including toilet paper base paper)", GB/T20810-2018 "Toilet paper (including toilet paper base paper)", and QB/T4509-2013 "Natural color household paper" and other standard requirements. And specifically, when it comes to details, there are a series of indicators such as brightness, horizontal suction height, softness, and total bacterial count. To have a clear understanding of these indicators, various analytical instruments are needed.

The safety testing of paper towels involves fluorescent agent detection, bleach agent detection, bacterial content detection, heavy metal detection, and other harmful substance detection. Among them, fluorescent agent detection and heavy metal detection can be completed using a fluorescence spectrophotometer, bleach agent detection can be achieved through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and bacterial content detection requires the use of culture dishes and microscopes.

Overall, behind the craftsmanship of paper lies the continuous progress of papermaking technology and the continuous development of scientific instruments. The paper around us is actually closely related to scientific instruments.

Prev: Research: Real time VR system can significantly improve the efficacy of chronic pain therapy